The Mikkeli railway station ( fi, Mikkelin rautatieasema, sv, S:t Michels järnvägsstation) is located in the city and central

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It is located along the

Kouvola–Iisalmi railway The Savonian railway ( fi, Savon rata, sv, Savolaxbanan) is a 1,524 mm (5 ft) railway in Finland. Beginning in Kouvola, it connects southern Finland with the eastern regions of South Savo and North Savo via the cities of Pieksämäki, Kuopio a ...

, and its neighboring stations are

Mäntyharju Mäntyharju (, literally 'Pine Ridge') is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The coastline is almost . The population density ...

in the south and

Pieksämäki Pieksämäki () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia region, about north of Mikkeli, east of Jyväskylä and south of Kuopio. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. Th ...

in the north. The Finnish Heritage Agency has proclaimed the Mikkeli station a nationally significant built cultural environment.

History

Even before the construction of the Savo railway, the city of Mikkeli played a significant role in the plans for railways in the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

: for example, in 1872, a plan for a line that would connect

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

via

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

and Simola was drafted. In the next decade, the plans for the Savo railway started to take form, in which Mikkeli would have housed a junction station for a south-north line through eastern Finland. The southern terminus was to be

Taavetti Taavetti (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Taavetti'', also ''Davidstad'') is a village and administrative center of the Luumäki municipality in South Karelia, Finland. It has a population of 2,084. It is located along Finnish national road 6, Highw ...

, and in Mikkeli, the line would split in two branches: one towards Jyväskylä in the west, and another towards Kuopio further north. In the end, the Savo line toward Kuopio was built starting from

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki River in the region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lappeenranta and northeast of the capital, Helsinki. With Kotka, Kouvola is ...

with Mikkeli becoming just an intermediate station, as the Jyväskylä branch was set to begin from

instead. In the planning stages of the Savo railway as it is known today, the line was originally planned to cut through western Mikkeli, but in 1886, it was decided to have it run through the eastern side instead. This made it possible to connect the railway to the Mikkeli harbour on lake

Saimaa Saimaa ( , ; sv, Saimen) is a lake located in the Finnish Lakeland area in southeastern Finland. At approximately , it is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth largest natural freshwater lake in Europe. The name Saimaa likely comes from a ...

, as well as to allow the city center to expand more naturally in the future. Work on the railway began in 1887, and the line was opened for traffic on 1 October 1889, all the way from Kouvola to Kuopio.

Architecture

The blueprints for the Mikkeli station building were accepted by the Finnish Senate on 16 March 1888, and like the rest of the stations on the Savo railway, were based on those of the stock stations on the Vaasa and Oulu lines. It was completed in 1889, and was expanded in 1902 and again in 1925. Its appearance has changed significantly over the years; for example, the open porch facing the railway was closed up, and the ornamental details on the roof were removed. The south side of the rail yard houses a roundhouse that at its largest had capacity for ten locomotives. To the west of the station building is a railway workers' residential building, completed in 1922, as well as a temporary station from the wartime era.

Services

Mikkeli is served by all InterCity and Pendolino trains that use the Kouvola–Iisalmi line as part of their route. The station has a VR ticket machine, as well as accessible high platforms. The station building is open on all days of the week.

External links

*
Train departures and arrivals at Mikkeli
on Finrail

References

{{Railway stations in South Savo Mikkeli Railway stations opened in 1889 Railway stations in South Savo Railway stations in Finland opened in the 19th century